


Nurture

by Candy_Kittens



Series: Nurture And Protect [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (author loves Tony but he has to be a dick here), Alpha Natasha Romanov, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha Thor (Marvel), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Asshole Tony Stark, Beta Bruce Banner, Beta Clint Barton, Beta James Rhodes, Beta Pepper Potts, Beta Sam Wilson, Beta Tony Stark, Beta Wanda Maximoff, Bottom Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Cool Uncle Sam Wilson, Dad Steve Rogers, F/M, M/M, Mom Bucky Barnes, Mpreg, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Peter Parker, Omegaverse, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Tony's a dick to Bucky in this one, Top Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff is a Good Bro, brief mentions of sexual assault and abuse towards Bucky at the hands of Hydra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candy_Kittens/pseuds/Candy_Kittens
Summary: "You know exactly how the others feel about me...."Five years after the skirmish with the Accords, and Bucky is finally free from Hydra's programming, he and Steve return to America from their stay in Wakanda and move into the Avengers facility to await Bucky's trial.Problem is, not all of the Avengers are too thrilled about Bucky moving into the facility, and none of them were expecting Steve and Bucky to have a two year old kid with them... or for Bucky to be six months pregnant....





	1. 00 // Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Before we get this started, I want to assure you guys that I love Tony, but for the purpose of this story, he has to be a complete dick to Bucky. If you have any issue with that, then this story may not be for you, but I'm not gonna stop you from reading it.
> 
> To be clear, this is _not_ a not Tony Stark friendly fic, he's just an ass in this.
> 
> Anyway, I'm really excited to get this fic started, and I even already have a basic idea for a sequel that'll mostly center around Steve and Bucky's kids - don't know for sure if I'll write that, but it's looking likely that I will sometime after this is over.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> _As always, this is also posted up onto my Wattpad account, @-hawkwing._

Tony Stark wasn't expecting any phone calls today, so when his phone all of a sudden goes off, he's confused. Not to mention if anyone was to call him, it would usually go through F.R.I.D.A.Y. first before it got to him.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. I want you to tell whoever is calling me that I'm busy with more important stuff." He calls as he continues working on his latest project.

He's far too busy to answer any phones right now.

"Boss, that isn't the main phone going off." F.R.I.D.A.Y. says. "It appears that you have an old cellphone going off somewhere in here."

Tony stops what he's doing, as he realizes that the A.I. is right. The ringtone certainly doesn't sound like the main phone in his lab, more one of those annoying ringtones of the old cellphones now that he actually takes the time to hear it more.

At first he's confused. Why would he have an old cellphone in here? Until he realizes that he's _still_ got that old flip phone that Steve Rogers gave him after the whole incident with the accords and in Siberia after he tried to kill Rogers' omega five years ago.

Why he's kept it all this time, he doesn't know. And now that it's going off, he kind of wishes that he hadn't just thrown it away along with the letter Rogers had sent him.

He _really_ doesn't wish to speak with Steve Rogers at all right now. That idiotic alpha is hardly worth his time. Then again, _that_ phone is for emergencies, and just _maybe_ he should see what it is the moron wants.

Maybe the authorities finally got to him and Barnes, and he's calling for help to bail them out. If that's the case, then Tony has no desire in helping him. Maybe he _should_ answer the call just to tell him that.

Tony sighs, stopping what he's doing to rummage around in one of the drawers, finding the ringing phone sitting there just waiting or him to pick it up and answer the call.

"What?" He asks as soon as he picks up the phone and answers the call.

There's a bit of a long silence on the other side of the phone, and Tony could've sworn he heard what sounded like a kid in the background, before Steve finally speaks.

"Hey, Tony." He says.

"It's been five years and you _finally_ decide to call now?" Tony asks. "What do you want, Rogers?"

He's _really_ not in the mood to talk with the traitor. Well, he's not _really_ a traitor, but he still kind of is.

"I know this phone was to be used for emergencies, but Buck and I have a favor to ask." Steve says.

"If you two have been caught by the authorities, then I'm not going to waste money to bail you both out." Tony says. "You both can stay locked up. It's probably for the better if Barnes is locked up anyway."

More silence. Though Tony can hear some faint talking off speaker, but he can't quite understand what they're saying.

"That's not why I'm calling, Tony." Steve says.

"Then what _do_ you want?" Tony asks. "Where are you anyway?"

Maybe he can find out where they are, then get the authorities on their trail.

"Where we are doesn't matter, Tony." Steve says. "Buck and I need a place to stay. We're coming back soon, and we need somewhere to stay temporarily before we find somewhere of our own."

Of course they want something from him. He should've known. Also means that he shouldn't have bothered answering the call.

"What, you want _me_ to allow you and the murderer back into the compound?" He asks. "And you know that as soon as Ross finds out you're back he'll be be on both your asses."

"Tony...." Steve sighs. Another pause. "I've already spoken to Ross." He sighs. " _Both_ Bucky and I have, and Bucky has agreed to sit trial in six months time."

He has to admit, he's surprised to hear that. He wasn't expecting to them to have talked with Ross and actually come to an agreement.

"Okay, I'll admit. I wasn't expecting that." He says. "But _why_ should I do anything for you both?"

Sure he's allowed the Avengers who were on Steve's side in regards to the accords back into the compound, but why should be do it for the man who killed his parents? And the man who hid it from him?

"You're the only one we could turn to." Steve says. "And in case you haven't noticed, we have no living relatives who'll help us."

Tony supposes that Steve has a point there. But why should he help them? Barnes killed his parents and Steve kept that from him.

Though he understands that it wasn't Barnes' fault for killing his parents, he understands that now. But it was _still_ by the guys hands.

"How long do you intend on staying in the compound before finding a place of your own?" Tony sighs.

Maybe he can manage to tolerate them being in the compound for a short while until they find a place of their own. Just as long as he doesn't have to give them any money.

"We're not sure yet." Steve says. "We hope no longer than a year at the most."

Hearing that, Tony isn't sure if he likes the idea of having them in the compound for a full year before they find somewhere for themselves. Though he supposes he should probably at least give them somewhere to stay, despite not liking the sound of having them in the compound.

"Fine." Tony sighs. "You both can stay here."

"Thank you, Tony." Steve says. There's a bit of a pause and a loud crash the background before Steve speaks again. "I gotta go. My son just broke something again."

"Alright." Tony says, before realizing that Steve had said _son_ _._ "Wait, what do you mean _son_?"

Though unfortunately before Tony gets an answer, Steve has already hung up the phone.

Sighing, Tony flips the phone shut, before setting it down on the bench.

Steve Rogers and James Barnes are coming back to America and staying in the compound.... He's got to figure out how to break the news to the rest of the team.

He's not even sure how the others will react to that news, aside from maybe Sam and Wanda.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" He calls. "Call the team into the main living area." He says. "They need to know that Steve Rogers and James Barnes will be returning."

 _Time_ _to_ _inform_ _the_ _others_ _...._


	2. 01 // Facing the Fire

Bucky looks over towards Steve nervously as the quinjet approaches the Avengers compound. Very soon they'll be face to face with the rest of the Avengers after not seeing any of them in five years.

Obviously he's afraid of what they'll say and do as soon as they see him. _Especially_ once Tony Stark sees him again.

He's afraid of Tony's reaction the most. _Especially_ so when taking into consideration that Tony's parents were killed by his hands.

Bucky's never been able to forgive himself for that, along with everything else Hydra had made him do. He'll never forgive himself for any of that.

Steve - who's sitting right next to Bucky with their two year old son Francis on his other side - notices Bucky's distress straight away, and takes his flesh hand in his, squeezing it gently in reassurance that everything's going to be okay.

Unfortunately it barely helps Bucky to calm his nerves. He's fucking terrified to face the people that Steve basically turned his back on for him.

He's beginning to wonder why he even let Steve go to Tony Stark and ask if they can stay in the compound until they've found a place of their own.

"Why did I even allow you to ask Stark if we can stay here?" He mutters. "I killed the guys parents after all."

"Everything's going to be okay, Buck." Steve assures him, giving him a quick kiss on the side of his head. "And you know it wasn't your fault what happened to Tony's parents."

"It was _still_ by my own hands." Bucky sighs.

He knows its not his fault for the death of Howard and Maria Stark, but he blames himself regardless. He may not have had control of his own mind, but he _still_ did it.

Steve sighs, shaking his head. "I know, Buck." He says. "But what happened happened. There's nothing we can do about it."

Bucky sighs, resting his head on Steve's shoulder. Steve's right. There's nothing that they can do to change what happened, no matter _how_ much they may want to.

"Daddy? Are we there yet?" Francis asks, tugging on Steve's shirt to get his father's attention. "I wanna see uncle Sam."

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon, bud." Steve assures the two year old, wrapping an arm around his son's shoulders. "And you'll get to meet all of daddy's other friends."

Bucky can't help but smile as he watches Steve and their son. He loves them both very much, and he'll do whatever it takes to keep them both safe, along with their unborn child.

He rests a hand on his stomach, rubbing around as he feels a sharp kick from their son inside of him, hissing a little as he kicks a little too rough. Yep. Definitely the child of two super soldiers. This second kid can kick awfully hard when he wants to.

"You okay?" Steve asks, noticing Bucky's discomfort.

"I'm fine." Bucky assures him. "Just this kid kicks way too hard."

"Guess we have a little fighter." Steve says, trying to lighten the mood.

"I want to be a fighter, daddy!" Francis exclaims. "I want to fight bad guys like how you and mommy did!"

Bucky smiles at that. He's glad that their son finds some enjoyment out of his and Steve's tales of way back in the war, but in no way does he want _any_ of their kids to have to do any fighting.

"Well, you're a little too young to do that right now." Steve laughs, shaking his head.

He goes to say more, but is interrupted as T'Challa and Shuri walk over to them.

"Rogers." T'Challa nods. "We've almost reached the Avengers compound. We'll be landing soon."

Steve nods. "Thank you, T'Challa. For everything."

Both he and Bucky will be forever grateful for everything that T'Challa and Shuri have done for them. For removing all of Hydra's programming from Bucky, for allowing them to stay in Wakanda for as long as they needed, and for helping Bucky throughout the pregnancy with Francis.

"It was my pleasure." T'Challa says. "And if you ever need to, you're welcome to return back to Wakanda."

"Thank you, T'Challa." Bucky says, before turning to Shuri. "Thank you, Shuri."

"Hey, it was nothing, puppy." Shuri says, before she's going over to entertain Francis.

Bucky laughs a little, shaking his head at her nickname for him. He loves that little shit like a sister, and he'll be forever grateful for what she and T'Challa have done for him.

T'Challa nods, before he's moving back to the front of the quinjet. Shuri however stays down near Steve and Bucky for a bit longer, before she retakes her place at the front near T'Challa, before they begin to land.

As the quinjet begins to land, Bucky feels himself becoming even more nervous with every passing second, and he feels as though he may throw up. Here it goes... he's about to face all of the Avengers. Most of them who he's sure don't particularly like him.

At least he has a friend in Sam Wilson, as annoying as that fucking guy can be. There's also Wanda Maximoff, she's been nothing but kind to him, same with Clint. It's mostly the ones who had fought on the side of Tony Stark five years ago after Steve had basically broken up the Avengers that Bucky is nervous about seeing again.

Steve helps Bucky up out of his seat as soon as the jet has landed, and Bucky goes straight over to Francis, and helps him out of his seat.

"Maybe you should go out there first, Steve." Bucky says, picking Francis up in his arms. "You've not told them about Francis yet, or about the pregnancy."

This is what Bucky's most worried about. He's afraid of what the other's reactions towards Francis will be, and towards the fact that he's currently six months pregnant. Though Sam and Wanda know about Francis, they don't know about the second child that he's carrying.

Steve looks over at him, before nodding. "Okay." He says, kissing Bucky on his forehead, then doing the same to Francis.

Bucky follows behind Steve slowly, but stops a little way out of view of the other Avengers as soon as he spots them all waiting outside the quinjet. He's almost positive that they can't see him and Francis from where he's standing.

He watches as Steve walks down the ramp of the quinjet and over towards the others with T'Challa at his side.

"Mommy, we going out?" Francis asks, pointing over towards Steve. "I want to go with daddy!"

Bucky holds Francis close to him as much as he can manage without causing discomfort to his stomach. "Soon, baby." He assures him, kissing his forehead. "We'll go to daddy soon."

Outside the quinjet, Steve looks behind him back towards the inside. He can only just manage to see Bucky standing up in there with Francis.

He knows that Bucky is afraid about all of this, but they had no other choice. They had no one else they could turn to except Tony. They no longer have any living relatives that'll help them.

"Hey, man." Sam says, being the first one to approach Steve.

Steve has to admit, he's glad that Sam is the first to approach him.

"Hey." Steve says, pulling him in for a hug. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." Sam says, once they've pulled out of the hug. "How's Bucky and the kid?"

Steve smiles. "They're both fine." He says. "Well, aside from Buck being afraid the whole jet ride over."

Sam laughs a little at that. "I don't blame him." He says, before he's standing back out of the way a little, looking behind him as Tony approaches.

Steve finds himself tensing up a little as he sees Tony approaching him. They never exactly parted ways on very good terms. Tony had tried to kill Bucky after all. But he's willing to forgive and forget if Tony is too.

"Hey, Tony." Steve says, making no move to get any closer to him. "Thank you for allowing Bucky and I to stay here until we find a place of our own once Bucky's trial is over."

Tony nods. "And where is Barnes?" He asks, looking around. "I don't see him anywhere."

Steve looks back towards the quinjet. He can't quite see Bucky anymore from where he's standing, but Shuri is now standing at the bottom of the ramp. Steve guesses that she's trying to encourage Bucky to come out.

"He's still in the jet." Steve says, turning back to Tony. He glances over to the others, before back to Tony. "There's something I have to mention first though."

"Well then spit it out, Rogers." Tony says.

Steve takes a deep breath, before he speaks. "While we've been gone, we've kind of started our own family." He says. "Buck and I have a two year old son. And Bucky's six months pregnant with our second."

Tony grows silent at the news, and Steve isn't sure how to take that reaction. Is he going to go back on his promise because of it?

Maybe it would've been better to tell Tony about it beforehand....

"So... _you_ and Barnes, have a kid?" Tony finally asks, looking rather confused. "Steve, is it such a good idea to keep a brainwashed murderer around kids?"

Steve has to stop himself from punching Tony in the face at that. However, he gets where Tony is coming from, as that's the only way he knows Bucky as. But Bucky's not like that at all.

Bucky is wonderful around their son, and would never do anything to hurt him.

"Tony." Steve sighs, shaking his head. " _All_ of Hydra's programming has been removed from Bucky's head." He says. "He's not a threat to anyone."

"What Captain Rogers says is true, Mr. Stark." T'Challa says. "Barnes is free from everything Hydra did to him, and is a threat to no one."

"Except the ones who threaten to harm my children or tries to take them away from me."

Steve turns around to find Bucky standing behind him, staring at Tony, as he holds Francis close to him. Shuri stands next to him, a hand on his shoulder.

"And they'd have good reason to try to take them away from you." Tony says, looking over towards him. " _You_ shouldn't be around children. It's a wonder why they've not been taken off you yet."

Steve turns to glare at Tony, a growl rising in his throat. He could punch Tony right now. In fact, he would if it weren't for the fact that Bucky has beaten him to it already.

"Careful, Tony." Steve sighs, helping him up off the ground. "Bucky is fiercely protective over our children."

Tony doesn't reply, just shakes Steve's hand off his arm, and glares at Bucky, who in turn glares right back at him.

"Don't think for a second that I won't break you if you try to take _my_ children away from me, Stark." Bucky growls.

"Buck." Steve says, setting a hand on his shoulder. "That's enough."

He doesn't want a fight to break out, especially not when Bucky is six months pregnant.

Bucky looks over to Steve, his eyes instantly softening as soon as he turns to him, but he doesn't relax completely. He doesn't want a fight, and he knows that Steve doesn't either, but if Tony tries _anything_ , then that's _exactly_ what's going to happen.

Turning to Tony once more, he growls, before turning back to where Shuri is standing. He takes Francis from her, and stands back as he let's Steve do the talking with the others.

Steve looks behind him over at Bucky, finding that he's _still_ staring at Tony. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe he should've just tried to find a place for them instead of turning to Tony. Though, he had no idea that it would turn out like this.

"Tony, can't we just put what happened in the past behind us and start over?" He sighs, turning to Tony.

"Depends what the psycho wants." Tony says, looking from Bucky to Steve. "Do you think you can keep your psychotic omega down, Rogers?" He asks. "Or is our best course of action going to be locking him up so he doesn't harm anyone?"

Steve has to hold back his growl. He wasn't expecting Tony to be _this_ hostile towards Bucky. He had a feeling that Tony wouldn't be very kind to Bucky, but he wasn't expecting this.

"I have no need to do that, Stark." Steve says. "Nor does he need to be behind bars. He's no threat to _anyone_."

"Yeah? Well I see different, Rogers." Tony says. "Barnes clearly isn't free from whatever the fuck it is that Hydra did to him."

"What part of him being fiercely protective of his children don't you understand?" Sam asks. "Of course he's going to lash out at you if you say that his children need to be taken away from him, or if you threaten to take them away from him."

Tony just huffs in frustration, shaking his head, before he's turning around and making his way back towards the compound, without saying another word.

Steve looks on after him, before he's turning to Sam. "You'll be sure to tell me if Tony tries anything, right?"

"Of course, man." Sam nods. "Anything you need."

Steve nods, before looking out towards the others who are just standing there watching them. Though, as soon as Tony is out of sight, Wanda comes running up and over to Bucky, while everyone else heads on back towards the compound aside from Vision.

"Hey, Bucky." Wanda says.

"Hey, Wanda." Bucky says, brightening up as Wanda reaches him, and pulls him in for a hug.

Steve is glad that Bucky has a friend in both Wanda and Sam. He's not sure about any if the others, but at least there's a few here that like him, and will be there for him.

"Sam, can you help me take our stuff inside?" Steve asks.

Sam nods. "I'll show you to your room while I'm at it, as I doubt Stark will be willing to do so."

"Shuri and I'll help you too Steve." T'Challa says. "But we must be heading back to Wakanda soon after."

"Thank you, T'Challa." Steve nods, before looking over at Sam. "Come on. We don't have much stuff to take inside."


	3. 02 // Anxiety and Shopping

"And, _why_ do we have to do this exactly?" Bucky asks, as he sits at the table making sure Francis eats his breakfast instead of throwing it to the floor again. "I'm perfectly content on just staying in here, not talking to anyone until my trial and until we find our own place."

It's been four days since they've been at the Avengers compound, and Steve has just approached Bucky, telling him that they've got to talk with the rest of the team. Bucky doesn't fancy having to go out into the main common room and talking with the others. He _knows_ for a fact that the others - minus Sam and Wanda - don't exactly like him.

Tony Stark has certainly made it no secret that he hates him.

"I know you are, Buck. But I _really_ think this would be a good idea." Steve says. "I want them to get to know you better."

Bucky sighs. "You know exactly how the others feel about me, Stevie." He says. "Do you _really_ think that they'd want to get to know me better?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out?" Steve says, before sighing as he sits down at the table across from Bucky. "Come on, Buck. It'll be fine."

"You don't know that." Bucky shakes his head, looking away from Steve.

He has doubts that everything won't go fine. In fact, he _knows_ that it won't. It's what he's most afraid of. Along with Tony trying to do something to get his son taken off him.

And if Tony _does_ try something.... Well Bucky isn't sure if he'll be able to stop himself from hurting Tony because of it. No one tries to take his son away from him. _Especially_ not Tony Stark.

"Please, Steve." Bucky says, looking over at his alpha. "I don't want to go talk with with the others. Not today at least anyway."

He's not sure if he'll actually want to talk with the others at a later date, but he knows for certain that he doesn't want to talk with them today. He's not ready.

Steve sighs. "Well, do you at least want to go out to the store?" He asks. "I think it might be good if we went out and bought some more clothes for the three of us, and _you_ need some new maternity wear."

"I don't know, Steve." Bucky shakes his head.

Though he knows that Steve _is_ right. He needs more maternity clothes, and they all do need some more clothes, _especially_ Francis.

But is he ready to go outside? The staring... big crowds... people viewing him as a criminal.... Is he ready to face that yet?

"If you want, we can get Wanda and Sam to go with us?" Steve suggests. "And don't worry about what complete strangers think. Their opinions don't matter."

Bucky shakes his head. "It's not that I'm afraid of what they think of me, I'm just not sure if I'm ready to face them."

Well, maybe he _is_ a little bit afraid of what they think of him, but that's not the point. Or maybe it is... he's not sure. All he knows for sure is that he's not ready to go out in public yet, _just_ as much as he's not ready to speak with the other Avengers.

Things were different when they were in Wakanda. He never worried about what the people there thought about him, he had no need to. T'Challa made sure of that. But now, being back in America... things are different. _Much_ different.

"Bucky." Steve starts, completely understanding what Bucky trying to say. "I think this would be a good idea." He says. "We don't have to talk with the others just yet if you don't think you're ready. But I _do_ think going out to the store would be good. Get some fresh air into you, and I think it would be good for Francis too."

Bucky looks at him, before looking to Francis, then back to Steve. Steve's right. Of course he is. It won't be good for either of them to stay shut up inside.

Sighing, he nods. "Okay." He says. "I'll go out to the store with you. And... I think I would like Sam and Wanda to be there too."

Having Sam and Wanda go shopping with them might be a good idea. More protection in case something happens, and fuck... if there's anyone here that Bucky can count on to keep his son safe if he and Steve can't, it's Wanda. She's got to be the most powerful woman he knows - and possibly the most powerful on the team that he knows of - and he trusts her.

"Alright." Steve nods, getting up. "I'll go talk with them and tell them what's going on."

He leans over the table to give Bucky a quick kiss, before turning to kiss the top of his son's head, before ruffling up the young boy's blond hair a little.

"I'll be back soon." He assures, Bucky, before he's out the door.

Bucky looks on after him, sighing a little. He's nervous about what may happen when they go out shopping, but at least they'll have Sam and Wanda with them. _Hopefully_ at least, if they agree to go with them.

He turns his attention back to his son as he hears the smashing of a plate on the floor, and he finds Francis smiling cheekily at him as he claps his messy hands together.

Yet _another_ broken plate and a mess of scrambled eggs and toast on the floor....

"Look I broke the plate, mommy!" Francis says, pointing down to the mess on the floor.

Bucky smiles, shaking his head. "I can see that." He stands up slowly, resting a hand on his stomach, rubbing around a little as the baby starts kicking. "Now let's get _you_ cleaned up, mister." He says. "We've got to go shopping with daddy, uncle Sam, and auntie Wanda."

The mess on the floor will have to wait for a bit. First he's got to get Francis cleaned up and dressed so they can go out shopping.

Or maybe he can just get Steve to clean up the mess once he gets back from talking with Sam and Wanda. He's _still_ got to get himself ready after he's gotten Francis ready after all.

He gets Francis out of his highchair - thankfully without the two year old throwing a tantrum - and carries him off towards the bathroom to get him cleaned up and ready to go out.

**********

"I don't know about that, Stevie." Bucky says, as he stares at the little Captain America onesie that Steve has found.

He'll admit, it _is_ cute, but does he really want their son to wear a mini version of Steve's uniform? And knowing Steve, he'll want to get one for every kid that they have. Bucky's not sure how he feels about little Captain America's running around the house actually dressed as Captain America.

Who's idea was it anyway to make baby and toddler versions of the Avengers uniforms anyway? And why is there mostly only Iron Man and Captain America ones? Well, to be fair, that could be excused for them being in the boys section, but still. It's all Iron Man and Captain America ones.

"Come on, Buck!" Steve says. "Francis will look adorable in it!" He bends over, waving the onesie in front of Francis who's seated in his stroller. "What do you think, buddy?" He asks. "You want this?"

"Like you, daddy." Francis says. "I wanna be like you!"

Steve smiles, looking up at Bucky. "Our son wants it, so we're getting it for him." He says, chucking it into the shopping cart that Wanda is pushing. "And we'll need a smaller one too for Reese once he's born."

Bucky just rolls his eyes. _Exactly_ what he was expecting. Who knew Steve would want to buy matching for their sons, even though one isn't even born yet?

"You decided on a name for your second then?" Sam asks, as he looks through one of the racks of toddler clothes, chucking some into the shopping cart every so often.

"We've had the name Reese picked out for a few weeks now." Steve says.

Bucky smiles a little to himself at that as he rests a hand on his stomach. He can't wait till the baby is born, and luckily he'll be born before his trial.

His trial... not something he wants to think about or is looking forward to. But it needs to be done. He just hopes that everything will turn out okay in the end.

Looking around, he notices people staring at him, and trying to push their children away in fear that he'll hurt them if they get too close to him.

He looks away, trying to ignore their stares. He knew this would happen. He _knew_ he'd get stared at. Of course he would, he's the goddamn Winter Soldier, and he's killed people. _Everyone_ knows who he is and what he did.

Gripping onto the handle of Francis's stroller, he tries to focus on Steve, who's still looking through the racks of clothes with Sam, and tries to control his breathing as he suddenly finds it a little difficult to breathe. But knowing that there's many people staring at him... it's not exactly as easy as he'd like it to be.

"You okay, Bucky?" Wanda asks, noticing Bucky's distress, and all the people staring at him.

She's quick to abandon the shopping cart, and moves to his side, where she rests a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him to the best of her abilities. Though, it doesn't work as well as she'd hoped, as Bucky almost collapses into her arms.

"Steve!" She calls, getting his attention.

Steve is quick to go straight to Bucky's side as soon as he sees the distress Bucky is in. "It's okay, Buck." He says, holding him close as Bucky grips onto his shirt. "They can't hurt you."

He runs his fingers through Bucky's hair, and around his stomach as Bucky begins to slowly get his breathing under control and stops shaking.

"I-I'm okay, Stevie." Bucky sighs, once he's able to stand on his own. He frowns. "I don't know what that was."

He's _really_ not sure what that was. Nothing like that has ever happened to him, so why now?

"I think you might've just had a bit of an anxiety attack." Sam frowns as he looks around them. "And I can see why."

There's _still_ many other shoppers staring at them. Most of them looking afraid and on edge upon seeing the Winter Soldier in the store with them.

"Anxiety attack?" Bucky questions. "I've never had that happen before though. Are you sure?"

He supposes that's likely to have been what it was, but he's never had an anxiety attack before. Nor did he ever think that he'd have anxiety.

But it makes sense now that he thinks about it.

"It would make sense, man." Sam sighs. "With your history and after everything that's happened to you... it's fairly likely." He says. "But I'm _just_ guessing here, I don't know anything for sure."

Bucky nods. "I think you might be right though." He admits, rubbing a hand around his stomach as the baby starts kicking.

"If that's the case, then all these people staring aren't helping." Steve says, looking around them, a low warning growl rising in his throat.

He could easily cuss them out, tell them off for staring, he doesn't care, just _something_ to make them mind their own damn business. But one nudge to his side from Bucky stops him from doing anything he may regret.

Really though it's not something that he would regret. If someone's making Bucky uncomfortable to the point he has an anxiety attack because of it, then he'll do whatever's necessary to make that person fuck off and mind their own business.

"Can we just continue shopping then get something to eat?" Bucky asks. "I'm hungry, sore, and tired. And I think I need to pee."

He doesn't want to stay here too much longer despite the fact that thy haven't been in the store for very long to begin with. His feet are already sore, his back is aching, and he's hungry. _Very_ hungry. He just wants to finish up here as fast as they can, get something to eat, then go straight back home.

"I agree with Bucky." Wanda says. "Let's finish up here then get food." She looks around. "Before we draw any more attention that we don't want."

Steve nods. "Alright." He says. "We'll buy what we need most now, then just buy anything else we need online." He decides, upon seeing that Bucky doesn't want to stay here much longer.

He sticks close to Bucky's side as they make their way through the store, finding whatever they need right now. Mostly it's just things for Francis, new maternity clothes for Bucky, and a few other bits and pieces. Whatever else they still need, they'll buy online.

Steve still needs some new clothes for himself along with a few more art supplies, but he can always order his stuff online, or come back to the store by himself later. Things for Francis and new maternity clothes for Bucky are their main priorities right now.


	4. 03 // Meeting with Mr. Linus

"Are we really doing this today, Steve?" Bucky sighs, walking with Steve and Sam as they walk towards his lawyer's office.

They've got a meeting Bucky's lawyer today - who he's not even met yet - to discuss the upcoming trial. Bucky's not so sure about the guy, but both Steve and Sam have assured him that he's the perfect choice, and very willing to represent his case.

He does trust Steve and Sam to have chosen someone who's on their side and willing to help them, that's why he had asked them to find him one in the first place. But he still finds himself wary of this guy nonetheless.

Though he would've expected it to take much longer than it has for them to find him a good enough lawyer willing to represent him at his trial. So _hopefully_ this guy is as good as they claim.

"Well you gotta meet him." Steve shrugs. "And the sooner the better."

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. All he wants to do is go back home, and be with his son. He knows that Wanda is taking good care of him right now, but he just wants his son right now. He's worried that Tony may try something while they're gone.

"It's gonna be okay, man." Sam assures him, patting him on the back. "This guy is good, and is _very_ willing to represent your case."

"I hope you're right." Bucky sighs, wrapping his arms around his stomach. "But that's not all that I'm worried about."

He _really_ doesn't want to be here right now, but unfortunately he _has_ to be here. All he wants to do right now, is go home. But they need to do this, so there's not much choice. He has to meet this guy.

"Wanda will take good care of Francis for us, don't worry. She won't let anything happen to him." Steve says. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

Bucky knows that to be true, of course he does. He trusts Wanda will look after Francis for them. It's just that he doesn't trust Tony. the others he's not so sure about though, but he trusts them more than he does Tony.

Honestly, he'd very much like to trust Tony, and apologize for what happened, but he's not sure when the right time to tell him will be. And well, he's not found the courage to talk to him yet.

Not to mention he doubts that Tony would be willing to listen to him in the first place. He wants to be friends with the guy, not enemies. But unfortunately it seems that that is not what Tony wants....

"So, what's this guy's name?" Bucky asks, turning to Sam, as they stop outside what he's assuming is this guy's office.

"His name's Benjamin Linus." Sam says. "And he's good and on our side, don't worry. Steve and I made sure of that. We wouldn't have chosen him if he wasn't on our side."

Bucky knows that to be true. They wouldn't have chosen just anyone, but he finds himself a little wary nonetheless to actually meet this guy.

"Everything will be okay, Buck." Steve smiles, looking over at Bucky after knocking on the door in front of him,

They stand outside the guy's office for a bit as they wait for him to answer, and with every passing second, Bucky finds himself growing more nervous. He's just glad that he's got Steve and Sam here with him, and he knows that they'd never let anything bad happen.

Steve notices Bucky's distress, and wraps an arm around his waist, kissing the side of his head. Doing his best to comfort him, which unfortunately only works a little bit.

Though, Bucky _does_ feel much better with Steve holding him close. But not as much as he would've liked it to....

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Bucky - but was only at the most fifteen minutes - the door to his lawyers office opens, and a short guy who looks to be somewhere in his 40s with short brown hair and glasses opens the door.

From the man's scent, Bucky can tell he's an alpha. Though, he certainly doesn't look the type to be an alpha. But the same could be said for himself, as he certainly doesn't look like an omega, but is.

"My apologies if you've been standing out here for longer than you would've liked."  He says. "I was busy on the phone."

"That's alright." Steve says.

The man - who Bucky is assuming is Benjamin Linus - nods, gesturing for the three of them to come inside, and Bucky finds himself grateful to be out of the hallway and into the man's office.

"Hi, you must be James." Mr. Linus says, holding out a hand for Bucky to shake. "My name is Benjamin Linus."

"Bucky is fine." Bucky says, shaking the man's hand.

 _So_ _far_ _so_ _good_ _...._

"Alright then, Bucky." Mr. Linus says. "Please have a seat and we can get started."

**********

"Thank you, Mr. Linus." Bucky says, shaking his lawyers hand at the end of their meeting.

He's glad to say that this all went much better than he thought it would, and now he just wants to get back to the compound and to his son.

"You're welcome." Mr. Linus says. "And it was very nice to meet you, Bucky."

Bucky smiles at him. He's _very_ glad that this guy is good, and on their side just as Steve and Sam had promised that he would be.

Though, he still doesn't have much hope that he'll actually win the trial due to obvious reasons, but he's happy with the lawyer that he's got to represent his case. That's all that really matters to him in the end.

If he has to serve time for what he was forced to do as the Winter Soldier, then so be it.

Then again, he doesn't fancy having to be away from his children for so long, so he'd prefer that he doesn't have to serve time. But if he has to, then he'll have to deal with it, and just hope that he'll be granted visitation rights.

"Thank you, again, Mr. Linus." Steve says, wrapping an arm around Bucky. "I'm glad that you're so willing to represent Bucky's case."

"You're welcome, Steve." Mr. Linus says, shaking Steve's outstretched hand. "I'll be seeing you both at the next meeting?"

Steve looks over at Bucky, who nods. "I think you will be." Steve says.

"Great." Mr. Linus nods, before turning to Sam. "Will you be joining us next time, too?"

Sam shrugs. "Only if they want me to." He says. "I'm really only here for moral support."

And Bucky finds himself grateful for the fact that Sam is here with them. He'll always be grateful for all the support that Sam gives them, along with all the support that Wanda gives them too.

"Well, we'll see you next time." Steve says.

They give their farewell to Mr. Linus, before the three of them are out of his office, and in Sam's car about to head home.

"We told you there was nothing to worry about, Buck." Steve says, grabbing a hold of Bucky's hand as they sit in the back of Sam's car.

"You did." Bucky nods. "And I'm glad it all went well."

Steve smiles, leaning over to give Bucky a quick kiss.

"Alright you two lovebirds." Sam says from the front of the car, as he looks around at them. "We heading straight back, or do you want to get food first?"

Now that Sam's mentioned food, Bucky realizes just how hungry he is. He's _starving_ _,_ despite the fact that he already ate before they left the compound. But that was about three or so hours ago now.

"As much as I want to get back to my son, I'm starving." Bucky says.

"Alright." Sam says, starting up the car and driving out of the parking lot. "Anything in particular?"

Bucky shrugs. "Burgers would be good."

"Burgers it is then."

**********

"I gotta go talk with Banner." Steve says, as he, Bucky, and Sam walk through the doors of the Avenger's compound. "You go get Francis, and I'll see you both once I'm finished."

Bucky's turns to Steve, a look of disappointment crossing his face, but he nods. Steve had talked with him on the way back that he plans on going to see Bruce about something. Something about the possible effects the serum may have on Francis.

Shuri had run a few tests on Francis about it while they were still in Wakanda, but the results didn't come back with much. Maybe cause he was barely three months old then, or it's just something that Shuri couldn't quite tell. So they're hoping that since Francis is a bit older now, that Bruce might be able to see something.

Personally, Bucky would prefer it if Francis - along with any other kids they decide to have - don't have any side effects from his and Steve's serums mixing together. But he knows that there's the possibility that it will be the case, and that Francis may have something.

"Alright." Bucky says, before Steve's kissing him. "I'll see you in a bit then."

Steve nods, before he's pulling away and walking off in the opposite direction.

Bucky stands there watching on after him, before he turns to find Sam standing next to him.

"You okay?" Sam asks, placing a hand on Bucky's shoulder.

Sighing, Bucky nods, wincing a little as the baby kicks a bit too hard. "I'm fine." He sighs, rubbing a hand around his stomach.

Sam nods. "Well come on. Let's go get your boy." He says. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

At the mention of his son, Bucky brightens up, and he and Sam make their way to the main common room on the second floor. All he wants right now, is his son in his arms.

Once they walk into the common room, Bucky is surprised to find Francis playing with an unfamiliar little girl, and a kid who he believes is that Spider-Man person. He thinks his name is Peter Parker, according to what Sam has told him.

But the little girl? He's completely clueless on _who_ she is, and _why_ she's in the Avenger's compound in the first place.

"Mommy!" Francis shouts, as soon as he sees his mother walking into the room followed by his favorite uncle Sam.

He runs over to Bucky, and hugs his legs. "Missed you, mommy!"

Bucky smiles, kneeling down to hug his son properly. "I've missed you too, sweetheart."

"Come meet Morgan and Petey!" Francis says, grabbing Bucky's hand, and attempting to pull him over towards his new friends.

"Alright." Bucky laughs, as he slowly gets up off the floor, and follows his son over to Morgan and Peter.

Peter's eyes widen as he sees Bucky approaching, and he pushes Morgan behind him a little.

Bucky notices this, and frowns. He stops halfway, but Francis continues to pull him over, and Bucky finds himself surprised by his own son's strength. Though really, he's the son of _two_ super soldiers, so it's to be assumed that he'd be stronger than a normal two year old.

"Petey! Morgan!" Francis exclaims. "This is my mommy!" He looks up at Bucky. "Mommy, this is Petey, he has a cool web shooter thing! And Morgan is Iron Man's daughter!"

Upon hearing that Morgan is Tony Stark's daughter, Bucky freezes, and as he gets a good look at the girl, he notices that she looks a lot like Tony.

"It's nice to meet you." Bucky says, looking towards Peter.

Technically he had already met Peter five years ago, but this is the first time he's actually seeing him out of the Spider-Man suit, so he's glad he's able to see what the kid looks like now.

"H-hi, Mr. Barnes." Peter says, looking over his shoulder like he's expecting Tony to burst through at any second.

Instead, Wanda walks in, stopping as she notices Bucky and Sam standing in the room. "So how'd the meeting with your lawyer go?" She asks, walking over to them.

"Better than I thought it would." Bucky admits.

Wanda nods. "That's great." She looks over at Peter, noticing as he looks a little uncomfortable to have Bucky standing in front of him. "Peter, Bucky's not going to hurt you or Morgan."

Peter looks over at her. "Oh, I uh... I know." He says. "It's just-" He doesn't have the chance to say anymore, as Tony comes running into the room, almost knocking Wanda over in the process.

"Peter!" Tony shouts. "Get Morgan away from him now!"

Bucky backs away from Peter and Morgan as Tony walks over to him. He was afraid that Tony would come in yelling at him....

"Back off, Stark." Sam says, standing at Bucky's side in an instant, and pushing Tony away from him. "He's not going to hurt your daughter."

Bucky pushes Francis behind him, not wanting Tony to get anywhere near him. Thankfully, Wanda rushes over, picks Francis up and takes him into the other room. Bucky's glad she did that, he doesn't want Francis in here while Tony's yelling.

"Mr. Stark, he wa-" Peter tries to say something, but he's once again cut off by Tony.

"Peter, I told you to get Morgan out of here!" Tony says, turning to Peter.

Bucky watches as Peter is quick to pick Morgan up and take her out of the room.

"For fucks sake, Stark." Sam sighs. "Bucky wasn't about to hurt your damn daughter."

Tony doesn't listen to him, just glares at Bucky. "I don't _ever_ want to see you near my daughter." He says. "I should never have agreed to let you and Rogers stay here. You're a danger, and shouldn't be around kids."

With that, he's out of the room. Leaving Bucky and Sam standing alone in the common room looking on after him.

Sam glares after Tony, ready to run after the guy and do some damage to him for what he said to Bucky.

"I swear I'll go after him and-" He starts, but Bucky cuts him off.

He doesn't want Sam to do anything stupid for his sake. Which includes going after Tony and doing some damage.

"Don't worry about it, Sam." He sighs, holding back tears as he moves past him and runs off towards his and Steve's area of the compound.

He passes Wanda on his way, who looks on after him in confusion. But he doesn't stop to talk to her, just keeps on running, not stopping once he reaches his and Steve's room.

"Bucky?" Wanda calls, going to go after him, but stops as Sam runs into the room. "Sam, is everything okay?"

Sam stops, turning to Wanda. "Stark upset him."

And that doesn't surprise her one bit. Of course Tony would do something to upset him, and she doesn't like that at all.

"Mommy!" Francis calls out, looking on after his mother, and pointing off in the direction he ran in.

"Come on." Sam says. "We should go after him."

Wanda nods, adjusting her hold on Francis, before they're running off after Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh, I'm not entirely happy with how the ending to this chapter sounds, so I may come back at a later date and edit it to make it sound better, but for now it's fine.
> 
>  
> 
> _Also, if you don't know who Benjamin Linus is or what he's from, I'm sorry, but we may not get along very well_


	5. 04 // Steve's Pissed

"Daddy! Daddy!" Francis says, running towards the door as Steve makes his way inside after talking with Bruce.

"Hey, buddy!" Steve says, kneeling down so he can hug his son. "Where's your mother?"

He looks around the front room, trying to spot Bucky anywhere, but he can't find him. Maybe he's resting? Steve hopes that's what he's doing.

However, he does spot Sam walking over to them from down the hall.

"Daddy!" Francis says. "Iron Man made mommy cry."

Steve looks at Francis, surprised to hear that, but at the same time he's also not surprised to hear it. Though he wants to know _exactly_ what Tony had said and done to make Bucky cry.

"What?" He asks, looking up at Sam as he stops near them, looking ready to tear someone's throat out. "Sam, what happened?"

Sam sighs. "Stark happened." He says. "Buck and I went to get Francis, and Tony's daughter, Morgan, and that Spider Kid, Parker, was there. Tony came running in not long after and yelled at Bucky. Telling him he doesn't want him going anywhere near his daughter. Among other stuff."

Upon hearing that, Steve has to stop himself from running out of the room and giving Tony a piece of his mind. Although he's _still_ going to have a word with him for sure. _No one_ makes Bucky cry.

"Where is he now?" He asks, standing up.

"He's shut himself up in your room." Sam says. "Wanda has tried to get him to unlock the door, but he won't budge." He frowns. "I think he'll only open the door for you."

Steve is off towards the bedroom before Sam is even finished speaking. He _needs_ to comfort Bucky, and tell him everything's okay. Then afterwards he needs to go have a word with Tony.

A word that probably won't be very friendly, but he doesn't care.

"Steve." Wanda sighs in relief as she spots Steve heading her way with Francis trailing along behind him. "Finally! He won't unlock the door."

Steve nods, standing in front of the door as Wanda moves out of the way. He knocks on the door, listening for any movement on the other side. When he doesn't hear anything, he knocks again a little louder.

"Bucky, it's me." Steve says. "Can you open the door, please?"

No reply.

"Bucky." He sighs. "Please. It's okay."

"Open the door, mommy!" Francis says, knocking on the door before pressing his ear up against it. "Mommy, don't cry!"

Steve rests a hand on his son's shoulder as he looks down at him. He has the side of his face pressed to the door as he knocks on it. His eyes screwed shut as he tries to listen for moveen on the other side of the door.

"Why he not opening the door, daddy?" Francis asks, looking up at Steve.

Steve shakes his head. "I don't know, buddy."

Actually, he has a few guesses. Some he doesn't wish for Francis to hear. Though his biggest guess may be because Bucky just wants to be alone right now. He _hopes_ that's the case any way. He's not sure what he'd do if Bucky's done anything stupid.

"Bucky, please." Steve sighs. "Please open the door. Don't make me break it down."

He'd rather not kick the door down, but unless Bucky unlocks it or gives a sign that he wants to be left alone right now, then that's exactly what he'll have to do. Even if it gets Tony more pissed off at them, but that's the least of Steve' worries right now.

Hearing a click, Steve stands back as the door finally opens. Though Bucky doesn't say a word as he returns to the bed.

Steve makes his way into the room, Francis following behind him, and walks over to Bucky as he lays on his side on the bed facing away from him.

"Buck." Steve starts, sitting on the bed next to him and rubbing a hand around his back. "It's okay."

"No it's not." Bucky says. "Tony will do whatever it takes to get me out of here. He doesn't want me here and you know it. He believes I'm a danger, and I shouldn't be around children." He lets out a small whimper. "We should never have left Wakanda. We should have never left the one place where we were most welcome."

Steve has to stop the growl rising in his throat. How dare Tony say that! He does understand why Tony has all this hostility towards him, but that doesn't give him any right to say that.

And maybe Bucky's right. Maybe they shouldn't have left Wakanda. They definitely felt and were much more welcome there than they are here, but they've got to get Bucky's trial over with. They had to come back here to take care of Bucky's trial.

Maybe they should've just found a place here for themselves instead of going to Tony for help. That way they wouldn't have to deal with Tony acting so hostile towards them.

Hopefully after they've spoken to the others about everything, they can take Tony aside and speak with him in private. That is.... _If_ he's willing to listen to what they have to say. So far, he's shown no signs of willingness to talk with them about what happened.

On the other hand though, Steve isn't sure if Bucky's ready to talk about it either.

It needs to be done though, and all they can hope for is that Tony will at least try to be civil about it and not so hostile. Judging by his clear feelings towards he, right now though, they might be asking for a little too much.

Bucky rolls over so he's looking up at Steve. "Maybe we should just leave." He sighs. "Give Tony what he wants."

It would give Tony _exactly_ what he wants. And that's for them to leave. But Steve isn't so sure that they'd be able to find somewhere for themselves so easily and quickly. He has a look at some houses online, but it likely wouldn't be very quick and easy for them to get one just yet.

"I know." Steve sighs. "I've had a quick look at some places online, but I doubt that it would be very easy for us to get our own place so soon."

Bucky nods, but doesn't say anything. He knows Steve is right. It won't be easy for the to get their own place. But he doesn't want to stay somewhere where he's not wanted. And he's clearly not wanted here.

"I don't wanna leave." Francis says, as he climbs onto Steve's lap. "I like it here, daddy."

At least _someone_ likes it here....

"I know you do, buddy." Steve says. "But we've gotta get our own place eventually. We can't stay here forever."

"Why do we have to?" Francis asks. "I wanna stay."

Steve sighs, looking over at Bucky who's watching their son with sad eyes. Their son wants to stay here, but Tony doesn't want them to stay here at all. They're not wanted here.

The only ones here that have been welcoming to them are Sam and Wanda. And Vision, but somehow Steve feels as though he's only being kind and welcoming to them to keep Wanda happy.

Though he's not so sure about Clint and Natasha. He hasn't really spoken with them since he and Bucky came here. He'd suspect Clint is welcoming to them, they did fight on the same side five years ago, but then again... that might not mean anything.

Then Natasha.... He's got no idea on how she feels about all of this. She's not easy to read after all.

"We just can't stay here forever, bud." Steve says, not having the heart to tell him that not everyone is very welcoming here towards Bucky. "There won't be enough room."

Technically there's plenty of room here for them all, but it would be best for them to find their own place. Somewhere out in the country away from the city maybe.

Francis nods. "Can we get more goats?"

"Of course we can." Steve says, as he notices the way Bucky looks up at him as soon as the word goats came out of their sons mouth.

Steve knows that Bucky loves goats. Though, they're not exactly the type of animal that Steve was expecting Bucky to love the most. But that all changed after T'Challa had put him in charge of looking after all the goats in Wakanda.

"You like the sound of moving out into the country and raising a goat farm?" Steve asks.

Bucky nods, moving around so he's sitting up a little and leaning on Steve. "Of course." He smiles, resting his head on Steve's shoulder. "That sounds perfect."

"Great." Steve smiles. "Well we can do that." He assures him. "Just as soon as your trial is over, we can do that."

**********

"What the _hell_ is your problem?" Steve says, as he walks into Tony's lab, finding him doing some sort of modification to one of the Iron Man suits.

He finds Bruce and that spider kid, Peter Parker in here too, but he's not worried about them. All he's worried about is having a word with Tony. A friendly word though? Decidedly not. There won't be anything friendly about what he's going to have a word with Tony about. _Especially_ not when the guy made Bucky upset.

Tony looks up, frowning as he sees Steve standing there, clearly pissed. "Well... my problem right now is fixing up my new suit." He says. "I don't think I know what you're talking about.

Steve rolls his eyes. Of course Tony would try and act like he doesn't know what's wrong.

"You _know_ what the fuck I'm talking about, Stark." He says, as he grabs Tony by his shirt, pushing him up against the wall next to them.

Of course Tony knows what he's talking about.

"Oh, that. Right." Tony says. "Your psycho omega was near my daughter. And I don't want him anywhere near her." He says, trying to pry Steve's arms off of him. "Not when he can snap at any moment and hurt her."

A growl rises in Steve's throat. Tony called Bucky a psycho and accused him of being unstable. Bucky is neither of those, nor would he ever harm someone, let alone a child.

"Tony, Bucky would never hurt your fucking daughter." He growls, pushing him up against the wall more. "And he's _not_ a psycho."

"Get off me!" Tony says, finally getting himself free from Steve's grasp. "You just haven't seen it yet, Rogers. Just wait. Barnes _will_ snap, and when he does, I just hope you make the right choice and take your kids far away from him."

"Well he'll fucking snap if you or anyone else tries to take our kids from him." Steve says, just about ready to tear Tony's throat out.

He can't believe what he's hearing. Tony truly believes that Bucky's a danger. He's most definitely not. All of Hydra's programming is gone, and it's Hydra's version of the Winter Soldier that's the danger, not Bucky. Bucky hasn't been that in five years. The Winter Soldier isn't who Bucky is anymore.

"M-Mr. Stark?" Peter says all of a sudden, as he slowly walks over to both Steve and Tony. "Bucky wasn't going to-" He doesn't get to say the rest of his sentence as Tony stops him.

"Shut up, kid!" He shouts. "This doesn't concern you."

Steve notices Peter shrink back and move over to Bruce - who's not said a word this entire time.

"Tony." Steve says. "You don't have to yell at the kid."

He knows from experience that a lot of omegas don't like being yelled at. Bucky doesn't like being yelled at, especially while he's pregnant, and _especially_ not after all that Hydra had done to him.

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want, Rogers." Tony says. "And if you want you and your omega to stay here, then you best shut up and deal with it."

Steve goes to retaliate, but the warning glance Bruce sends his way stops him. A fight wouldn't be the best idea, but that doesn't stop Steve from wanting to rip Tony's throat out.

Instead, he just punches Tony in the face, before he turns to leave. And thankfully, Tony makes no move to follow him. Steve doesn't want Tony to follow him anyway.

Though he only gets about halfway down the hall towards the elevator when peter comes running towards him.

"Steve." Peter calls, running over to him. "Wait!"

Sighing, Steve stops, turning around to face the kid. "What?" He asks, as Peter stops next to him. "What is it?"

Peter shifts on the spot a little, not meeting Steve in the eye. "I-I uh..." He starts. "I just want to know if Bucky's alright."

Steve smiles a little, nodding. "He's okay." He says. "He _will_ be okay."

He's sure Bucky will be okay, though he knows for sure that Bucky will be much better once they find their own place once the trial is over with.

And Steve just hopes the trial goes well.... Bucky's lawyer, Benjamin Linus is hopeful that it'll go well, but Steve truthfully isn't too sure. Bucky may not be free of all charges, but he can only hope that if he gets locked up, it won't be for very long.

Peter nods. "I'm sorry for how Tony is treating him." He says. "I-I'd try and talk with him, but I don't think he's willing to listen."

Steve nods. "Thank you." Hey says. "But you don't need to do anything."

He appreciates it, but Peter doesn't have to do anything for them. He doesn't expect him to do anything for them.

"I know." Peter says. "B-but if there _is_ ever anything you both need, I-I don't mind helping."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Steve smiles, finding himself glad that Peter is being kind and willing to help out if need be.

Peter smiles. "Great." He looks over his shoulder back towards Tony's lab. "I uh... should... probably head back now." He says. "I have to finish putting new modifications on my web shooters."

"Alright, kid." Steve says. "And thank you."

With that, Peter nods, before he's running off back towards Tony's lab.

Steve watches on after him, glad that there's one other person here that's welcoming towards them. Though he wasn't exactly expecting it to come from Peter, but then again he barely knows the kid, nor does he know how old he is - and he finds himself not wanting to know _how_  old he was when Tony had recruited him five years ago during the breaking of the Avengers in Berlin.

Shaking his head, he heads towards the elevator and makes his way back to Bucky and their son. He's had his talk with Tony, and now all he wants to do, is get back to Bucky and their son

And the sooner he does, the better.


	6. 05 // Talking Catch-Up

Following Steve into the main Avengers common room, Bucky finds himself growing even more nervous by the second. They've agreed to finally tell the others everything that has happened over the past five years, and he's afraid.

Afraid of facing them, and afraid of their rejection. He's not interacted with very many of them, mostly only Sam and Wanda, but he just knows that the others won't be very welcoming. Though he's heard from Steve that Peter Parker - the only other omega here - has offered his help when he needs it. Which he's very grateful for.

But he thinks it may only be because Peter is an omega like himself. And omegas usually stick together.

Holding Francis close to him, Bucky follows Steve over to the couch and sits down. Thankfully only Sam, Wanda and Vision are in the room so far, everyone else must still be on their way up. Truthfully Bucky hopes they take as long as possible to get here. The more time put off to face them, the better.

"You okay?" Steve asks, getting Bucky's attention.

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. "I will be once this is all over."

Steve sighs, nodding as he wraps an arm around him. He knows that Bucky doesn't really want to do this, but it has to be done. And the sooner they do it, the better. They can't put it off much longer than they already have.

It doesn't take much longer for the others to all make their way into the room not long after and take their seats around the room. Tony is the last to arrive with who Bucky is assuming his mate Pepper Potts and their daughter Morgan.

Bucky's not sure why they've brought Morgan with them, but as soon as Francis spots her, he's climbing off Steve's lap and rushing over to her, before they're going off together to the side of the room away from all the adults to play with whatever toys are laying out for them to occupy themselves with while the adults talk.

And Bucky can't help but notice the way Tony looks over at his son, and appears to go to keep Morgan away from him, but Pepper stops him, telling him something that Bucky can't quite hear. But whatever she had told him, it seems to have stopped him from going to move Morgan away from Francis.

As he shifts closer to Steve on the couch, he watches as Tony and Pepper take their seats on the opposite side of the room from them. Which Bucky finds himself glad of. He's not sure he wants Tony sitting very close to him, not after Tony's made it very clear that he doesn't like him.

"Alright, Rogers." Tony starts. "What do you and Barnes need to talk about?"

"About what has happened over the past five years and where we've been." Steve says, glancing over at Bucky. "We think you all deserve to know."

"Go on then." Tony says, looking bored and like he doesn't want to be here.

Steve chooses to ignore Tony's obvious disinterest in being here. He had expected that from him anyway, so it doesn't come as a surprise to him at all.

"Well, after what happened in the Hydra facility in Siberia after we...." He stops, unsure of how to word it, so he just doesn't say it.

He's sure that Tony has already told the others what had happened in that Hydra facility anyway. Probably making himself and Bucky out to be the bad guys in that situation, but whatever. What happened, happened. They can't change what happened back then.

"Bucky and I had gone with T'Challa to Wakanda - which I'm sure you already guessed." He continues. "While we were there, Bucky had made the decision to go back into cryo freeze while Shuri and her team of Wakandan scientists worked on a way to remove all of Hydra's programming."

He looks over at Bucky, finding him barely paying attention to what is being said as he tares down at the carpet and rubs a hand around his stomach. Which is fine, Bucky zones out often, and they had agreed that he'd do all or most of all the talking anyway.

"It took at the most, a year until everything was removed." Steve carries on. "And once Bucky was out of cryo, T'Challa offered us a place to stay in Wakanda, which we accepted, and we stayed there raising a bunch of goats."

"Wait..." Clint starts. " _You_ and _Barnes_... raising _goats?_ "

Steve nods. "Yeah, as weird as that may sound, we raised goats together in Wakanda for four years." He says. "We didn't want anything to do with fighting anymore. We've done enough fighting for one lifetime."

"So how'd the kid come into the equation?" Natasha asks.

"Well, we never planned on having kids." Steve admits. "And we weren't sure if Bucky was capable of having anymore kids after all that Hydra did to him."

He looks over at Bucky, unsure if he's comfortable with the others knowing about what Hydra had put him through. It took him awhile to tell him about it after all, and Bucky might not want them knowing yet or at all.

Which is understandable. Hydra put him through hell, and it's not easy for him to talk about it.

"Wait..." Tony starts. " _Anymore_? How many kids do you have?" He asks. "And what did they do?"

Bucky finally looks up at Tony. "What do you _think_ Hydra did to me?" He asks. "Torture, brainwashing, injecting me with all sorts of crap, sexual assault, rape. You name it, and they probably did it to me." He says. "And they had an omega in their grasps. One that their version of the super soldier serum worked on. They wanted to use me as their breeding machine along with all the shit they made me do as the Winter Soldier."

He stops, looking down, his voice beginning to shake as he continues. It's not easy for him to talk about any of this, and it's something that he wishes that he could forget.

"From... from what I can remember, they... they got me pregnant twenty times in the span of seventy years." He says. "I only carried four of them to term, but I don't know what happened to them after I gave birth to them. The rest of them ended in either miscarriages, or were killed while I was sent out on missions while pregnant."

He lets the tears fall, not caring in the slightest that the others can see them. He doesn't care about looking weak in front of them. That's the least of his worries.

Steve wraps an arm around Bucky's shoulders, pulling him close. He's still mad about what Hydra had put him through, and he'd gladly destroy every Hydra personnel who had harmed and violated Bucky in any way. No one deserves to go through what Bucky had gone through.

Wanda - who's sitting next to Bucky - takes a hold of his hand, squeezing it gently as she shifts a little closer to him, trying to comfort him just as Steve is. And Bucky smiles gratefully at her. He's super glad that he's got her as a friend. Without her, Steve, and Sam, he's not sure what he'd do.

"I thought for sure that after all that Hydra had done to my body that I'd never be able to have kids again. And I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd never have them again." Bucky continues. "So when Shuri gave me the news that I was pregnant with Francis, I thought she was lying. I didn't fully believe it until I had given birth to him."

He casts a glance over at Tony, and he could've sworn he saw what appeared to be a look of sympathy on his face. Though as soon as he saw it, it was gone, so he's not entirely sure if he did see it for not. The most likely case is that he just imagined Tony looking sorry for him.

Why would Tony suddenly care about him anyway? He's made it pretty clear that he doesn't give a damn about him.

"We weren't expecting me to get pregnant again with Reese." Bucky says, looking down at his stomach, wincing a little as the baby starts kicking rather rough. "And he sure does kick rather hard when he wants to."

The others are silent, none of them knowing what to say after hearing what they did. And Bucky finds the silence unnerving, and finds himself afraid of what they'll say about it.

"You ever think of tracking down those other kids of yours?" Rhodes asks.

Bucky shakes his head. "I uh... we've talked about it, but..." He trails off, looking over at Steve. "I'm not sure."

They've talked about finding them, but if they were to find them, they're not sure what they'd do. Though, if they're still alive, then they wouldn't know who they are and what they look like. Nor would they know that Bucky is their mother.

So maybe it would be best to not go looking for them. There's a chance they could be long dead anyway. And if that's the case, then maybe that's for the best? If they're still alive, then Hydra would've twisted them into their own image after all, and they may not be able to bring them out of Hydra's grasp.

"Okay." Tony starts. "Nice talk... kind of..." He trails off as Pepper elbows him in the side. "Now, are you going to explain more of why you chose to return to the States?" He asks. "Cause it seems to me that you were perfectly content in Wakanda."

"Like I told you on the phone, Tony, we've come back here for Bucky's trial." Steve says. "Which will we in around six months time. And we needed somewhere to stay until we've found our own place." He explains. "And we didn't really want to stay in Wakanda forever, despite how welcoming everyone was to us."

Bucky looks over at Steve. He would've preferred to stay in Wakanda forever and raise their kids there, but he knew they couldn't stay there forever, despite the fact that T'Challa had offered them a forever home there.

They both felt as though they had overstayed their welcome in Wakanda, and as much as they had made a home for themselves in Wakanda, it's not _completely_ home, and they knew that they had to leave eventually.

Their home will forever be their little crappy apartment they shared back in the '30s. Though they can never get that back. _Especially_ not when their family is growing.

And since their family is growing, Bucky just wants to go and live a simple life off the grid on some farm in the countryside and raise their kids there along with a bunch of goats. It's all he wants now. All he wants is to live in peace and quiet.

He did get that in Wakanda, since T'Challa had given him and Steve a home in a more secluded area away from everyone else. But it wasn't exactly as quiet as he would've liked.

Though, he did however like that very much, but everything else was just a little too futuristic for him to handle. Which he would've thought that he'd like, considering he's a big fan of sci-fi books - and more recently sci-fi movies and TV shows - but as it turns out, it's just a little too much for him, and he's found that all he wants is to live a simple quiet life out in the countryside.

"Okay, well... _please_ hurry with your house hunting." Tony says, which earns him another elbow to the side from Pepper.

"We've been looking, Tony, and trying to find something." Steve says. "But, it's not as easy as you'd think."

They do want to find their own home as soon as possible, but it's certainly not easy. They just hope that they can find something within a year, so they don't have to stay at the Avengers compound longer than necessary. Ideally they don't want to stay here for longer than a year at the most.

Tony seems to look a little frustrated at that, but doesn't say anything more on the matter.

They talk with the others for a little while longer until they've said all that they can, and everyone gets up to go back off to their floors or to some other area of the compound.

And as he watches as Tony makes his way out of the room while Pepper goes off to get Morgan, Bucky finds himself making his way over to Tony.

He wants to apologize to him about what happened five years ago in Siberia, and for what happened to his parents. He doubts Tony will want to listen to a word of it, but he's all of a sudden picked up the courage to at least attempt to apologize to him, so he's going to at least try.

"Tony." He says, walking over to him, having to pick up speed as Tony begins to walk faster out of the room, clearly not wanting to talk to him at all. "Tony, please stop."

He stands back a little as Tony stops, spinning around to face him. "What?"

"I uh... I want to ap-" He doesn't get to finish his sentence as Tony abruptly cuts him off.

"No." Tony says, shaking his head. "I don't want to hear it. I've heard enough from you today."

And with that, Tony is turning back around and walking out of the room, leaving Bucky standing there staring after him.

He sighs, looking down at the floor. Just as he had expected. Tony doesn't want to listen. Of course he doesn't.

He goes to make his way over to where Steve is talking with Bruce, but stops, jumping a little in fright as he sees Pepper standing next to him with Morgan by her side.

"Hey, it's okay." She says, reaching out to comfort him, but stops halfway. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. "It's alright." He says, huffing out a laugh. "I just wasn't expecting you to be standing there." He says. "Uh, you're Pepper, right?"

She nods. "Yes." She says, before looking off down the hall where Tony had walked off moments before. "Don't worry about Tony." She says. "Just give him time, and he'll come around eventually."

Sighing, Bucky nods. Though he seriously doubts that Tony will ever come around and actually be civil towards him.

All he wants is for Tony to be civil towards him. Becoming friends with the guy might be asking for a little too much, but if Tony would just act civil towards him and not so hostile, then he thinks he'll be alright.

"If you ever need anything, just let me know, okay?" Pepper says, catching Bucky by surprise.

"Th-thanks." He says, not expecting for Pepper Potts - Tony Stark's mate - to be willing to help him with anything if he ever needs it.

He had really expected for her to not like him just like Tony, but it may seem as though he was wrong. And he's glad that she's willing to help him with anything.

She smiles at him kindly, before she's leaving the room with Morgan.

Bucky watches on after her, before he's making his way over to Steve - who's still talking with Bruce - and he stands as close as he possibly can next to him, wrapping his arms around him and resting his head on his shoulder.

Steve momentarily stops talking to Bruce to wrap his arms around Bucky. "You okay?" He asks, rubbing a hand around Bucky's back.

"I'm fine." Bucky sighs, closing his eyes, barely paying any attention as Steve continues talking with Bruce.

He's vaguely aware of what Steve and Bruce are talking about. Something about being able to do some tests on Francis tomorrow to determine whether or not he has any side effects due to both versions of the super soldier serum.

Bucky finds himself hoping that Francis doesn't have anything. Except for the obvious super human strength which he's already been displayed as having (he'd already assumed that any kids he and Steve have would have some level of super human strength). He's not sure how he'd feel if his son has some form of ability due to his and Steve's serums.

He doesn't linger on the subject for much longer as he stands there wrapped up in Steve's warm arms, never wanting to move away.

Unfortunately though, he _has_ to move out of Steve's warm hold and sit down as his feet begin to ache from standing too long. But as soon as he takes a seat on the couch, Francis makes his way over from where he sat on the floor with Wanda and Sam, and climbs onto his lap.

And Bucky's instantly wrapping his arms around his son and holding him close as best as he can without disrupting his stomach.

"Mommy?" Francis asks.

"Hmm?" Bucky hums, looking down at his son. "What is it, buddy?"

"I love you." Francis says, moving up to kiss Bucky on the cheek.

Bucky smiles, holding his son closer to him, and kisses his forehead. "I love you too, buddy."


	7. 06 // Concerns

"This is completely safe, right?" Bucky asks, watching as Bruce sets up his equipment so he can begin running some tests on Francis.

He's still not entirely comfortable with a lot of the tech in this day and age. Especially when to comes to medical technology, and stuff similar to what Bruce uses. Even when he was in Wakanda all of the tech there was a little too overwhelming to him.

Too many bad memories surround a lot of medical technology. All because of what Hydra did to him. So it makes sense for him to be wary of it all, and not want any harm to come to his son.

"Huh?" Bruce looks up at him from where he was busy staring at something on his computer monitor. "Oh, yeah. It's perfectly safe." He assures him. "No harm will come to Francis."

"Don't worry, Buck." Steve says, wrapping an arm around him. "Francis will be fine. There's nothing to worry about."

Bucky sighs, looking up at him, adjusting his hold on Francis. "I know, but... it's just that I don't entirely trust things like this." He says. "Not after what happened."

He doesn't like to think about what happened, but it's hard not to at times. _Especially_ when he sees a lot of new medical technology, and things like what Bruce uses.

It's not like he doesn't trust Bruce because he does - well... from what Steve's told him about Bruce at least. It's more so because of all the bad memories he has associated with the type of stuff he works with. It was like that with all of Shuri's equipment too.

In fact, he wasn't even there when Shuri attempted to run a few tests on Francis to see if he had anything. Steve had taken him to her while he was asleep. And let's just say that he almost had a heart attack and freaked out when he woke up and Francis wasn't in the hut with him.

"Alright, Bucky." Bruce starts. "I need you to get Francis seated on the chair." He instructs, referring to the chair in the middle of the room.

As Bucky does as Bruce instructs, he only just notices Peter making his way in with more equipment they may need that Bruce had sent him out to get.

"Where do you want me to put this?" Peter asks.

"Over on the table would be good, thanks Peter." Bruce says, referring on the metal table next to the chair Francis is seated on.

And Bucky can't help but eye the syringe that Peter had set down among the rest of the equipment he had brought in, and he wraps an arm around Francis. He _knows_ it's necessary, but that doesn't mean that he has to like a lot of this. His son is only two after all, and he's about to be tested on to find out if he has any sort of mutant abilities thanks to the serums.

He may not like it, but it has to be done.

"It's okay, mommy." Francis says, sitting up to place a kiss on Bucky's cheek.

Bucky smiles at him. "I know, sweetie." He says, kissing the top of his head.

Bruce walks over to them from behind his computer. "Bucky." He starts. "If you want, you can step out of the room while I do this. You don't have to stay here." He says. "I know you're not comfortable with this stuff."

Bucky looks at him. He's right that he's not comfortable with a lot of this, but he doesn't want to leave his son. Even though he knows that he's in safe hands.

"Buck, it's okay you you need to step out of the room." Steve says before Bucky can say anything. "I can stay here."

Sighing, Bucky shakes his head. He doesn't want to leave his son's side, but at the same time it might be best if he waits outside.

"Actually, if you want my honest opinion, it might be best if you do wait outside." Bruce admits. "I don't know what... _they_ had done to you, but for the sake of your mental health, it might be best for you to stay out." He says, placing a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "I can tell you're becoming stressed while in here. Stress isn't good for the baby, and I'd hate for you to have a panic attack."

"Go on, mommy." Francis says. "I'll be okay. I got daddy, Spider-Man, and Bruce here. They look after me."

Bucky doesn't look too sure, but he knows that what Bruce is saying is right. He _is_ stressed, and he'd hate to have a panic attack because of all this.

And Francis is right too. Steve, Peter, and Bruce will look after him and make sure he's okay. He _knows_ they will.

Which is why he gives in, taking Bruce's advice in leaving the room. Francis will be fine. He's in good hands.

"Okay, fine." He sighs, giving in. "But if anything happens, _please_ come get me straight away."

Bruce nods. "Of course."

Sitting down on the small couch outside the lab, Bucky sighs, rubbing a hand around his stomach as Reese starts kicking. And Bucky has no doubt that Reese can sense his discomfort, so unlike every other time the kid starts kicking, his kicks are a lot more soft.

Which as a result, Bucky finds soothing, and they're helping him to stay calm. It makes him feel better to know that Reese is trying to comfort him. Though even if that's not the case, he's going to choose to believe that it is. It just makes him feel better to believe that, so he's going to keep on believing it.

Barely paying attention to anything around him, Bucky nearly jumps in fright as he notices Tony standing there staring at him. And he's got no idea how long the guy has been standing there for.

"T-Tony." He starts, unsure of what to say to the guy. They're still not on good terms at all after all....

He's not expecting any niceties from the guy, so he's expecting whatever to come out of Tony's mouth to be negative and hostile towards him.

"Barnes." Tony nods. "What are _you_ doing in this part of the facility?"

Bucky looks behind him towards the door of Bruce's lab. "Bruce is running some tests on Francis." He says, looking down, not wanting to look at Tony. "To find out if he has anything."

He really hopes that Francis doesn't have anything. Well... anything aside from the obvious superhuman strength. It's already been established that he has that, and hopefully that's all he has.

"Why aren't you in there with him?" Tony asks. "He's your son. I would've though you'd be in there too."

Bucky shakes his head. "Bruce had suggested that it would be best for me to sit this out." He says. "He doesn't want to risk me having a panic attack."

" _You_ having a panic attack?" Tony asks. " _How_ bad is your PTSD?"

Bucky looks up at him, surprised to have heard the obvious concern in Tony's voice to say anything. Tony _actually_ voiced concern for him? Did he hear that right?

"Just as well you sit this out then." Tony says. "Don't want you to get violent and hurt someone."

And there's the Tony he's come to know while staying here....

Although he does happen to agree with Tony about that. He doubts that he'd get violent during a panic attack, but there's the slight possibility that it could happen. After all, sometimes he'd get violent to try and get free when Hydra had him strapped down to their machines. The bad memories he has associated to those might bring on some violent tendencies if he was to panic.

"You might be right." He sighs. "I don't know the full extent of how bad my PTSD is."

He really doesn't know the full extent of how bad it is. All he knows is that after all that has happened to him at the hands of Hydra, it's pretty bad.

"Well, at least we agree on something." Tony mutters just loud enough for Bucky to hear.

"Tony." Bucky sighs, figuring now might be as good as any to try and apologize to him. _If_ the guy will listen.... "I'm sorry."

Tony looks at him, confused, but doesn't say anything.

"I'm not going to pretend that I didn't kill your parents, because I _did_." He says. "I wish that I could take i back everyday. Along with everything else that Hydra made me do." He stops, sighing, before continuing. "Your parents have haunted my dreams every night, along with the faces of everyone else Hydra made me kill."

He doubts that the nightmares will ever stop, and quite honestly, he feels as though they shouldn't. They're his punishment for what he did. The only reason he wants them to stop, is for his children's sake. Otherwise he feels as though he deserves every one of them.

"Well..." Tony starts, seemingly trying to figure out what to say. "I..." He shakes his head. "I don't want to hear it." He says. "I don't like, nor trust you."

Bucky sighs, looking away. Of course Tony's not willing to accept his apology. Not that he expected him to anyway.

Though, what comes out of Tony's mouth next, leaves him rather shocked.

"Listen, I know it's not your fault what happened." Tony says. "But they _still_ died by your hands." He shakes his head. "And I don't think I can forgive you for killing my mom... and my dad, but he was a dick."

Bucky can understand that. He can never forgive himself for what Hydra made him do. He'll never forgive himself for any of it.

"Tony." He starts. "This... this probably won't make you feel any better, but that wasn't the first time Hydra had sent me to kill your parents." He knows that this won't make him feel better at all, but he's got to tell him. "The first time was when you were a baby. The day you were born. They sent me to kill your parents and take you with me. I still don't know what they planned on doing with you."

He doesn't risk looking at Tony. he doesn't want to see his reaction. "I guess there was still some of me left then, and I couldn't do it." He says. "They tortured me and did _other_ things to me for hours after I returned and the mission was unaccomplished."

He stops, feeling as though there's a detail about that night he's missing, but he doesn't know what it could be.

Tony's quiet, and Bucky's not sure what to expect. He won't be surprised if that doesn't make him feel better in the slightest. In the end he _did_ still kill Tony's parents after all, just not when Hydra had wanted him to.

But he still can't stop the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he's remembering that night wrong. There was definitely a newborn baby - that was definitely Tony - but there's something else about that night that he just can't quite figure out.

Something else happened that night, but he can't remember what it was. No matter how hard he tries to remember.

"It doesn't make me feel better." Tony says. "Not really anyway. You still killed them in the end." He stops, noticing that Bucky seems to be distracted by something. "What's up with you now?"

Bucky shakes his head. "I just have this weird feeling that there's something I'm forgetting about that night." He says, looking up at him. "Like I'm not remembering it correctly."

Something else had happened that night. He's sure of it. But no matter how much the thought is bothering him, he's not sure he wants to know what it was. Or if it would be a wise idea to go searching for what happened.

"Well... good luck remembering, I guess." Tony says, before walking off.

But Bucky doesn't pay it any mind. He barely even notices Steve making his way out of Bruce's lab, followed by Bruce, and Peter - who's carrying Francis. All he can focus on is the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that something else happened that night he was supposed to kill Tony's parents and take a newborn Tony Stark back wth him to Hydra.

"Bucky?" Steve asks, resting a hand on Bucky's shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Bruce is finished running some tests on Francis." He says. "You alright?"

Bucky looks up at him, before smiling a little. "I'm fine." He says. "How'd it go?"

He decides not to tell him about talking with Tony, or anything about the night he was supposed to kill Tony's parents. He'll talk to Steve about it later.

"It went well." Steve says. "We've just gotta wait for the results now."

Nodding, Bucky stands up, looking over towards Bruce. "How long till we get the results?"

"Shouldn't be any longer than a few days." Bruce says.

And Bucky feels like these next few days are going to draw out way too long for his liking before they can get the results back. But it'll hopefully be worth it in the end once they find out if Francis has anything.

"You want to stay with me, Franics, or do you want to go back to your mommy?" Peter asks Francis, as he walks over to Bucky - Francis still in his arms.

"Mommy!" Francis says, reaching out for Bucky.

Bucky smiles as Peter hands Francis over to him. "Hey, baby." He says, hugging Francis close. "Were you a good boy while Bruce ran his tests?"

"Yes!" Francis says.

"He was absolutely fine." Bruce assures him. "No problems at all."

Bucky nods, kissing his son's forehead, relieved that there wasn't any problems while Bruce ran his tests. "Good."

And all they need to do now is wait until they get the rest of the test results back. Then they'll find out if Francis has any side effects from his and Steve's serums mixing together.

But Bucky's now got another concern on his mind along with if Francis has anything due to the serum.

What had happened on the night he was really supposed to kill Tony's parents, and if something else really did happen, then what's preventing him from remembering?


	8. 07 // An Appointment with Dr. Burke

“We’ll be fine here, Buck.” Sam says as he holds onto Francis. “You guys just go off to your appointment. Francis and I are good here.”

It’s been a few days since Bruce ran the tests that he needed to on Francis, and so far they’ve not gotten any results back. Bucky knows that Bruce said it’ll take a few days, but even though it  _ has _ been a few days with no results yet, he’s not sure if he’s ready to see them yet.

He’s afraid that Francis may have some sort of ability due to the serums. And while it’s not the end of the world if he does have something, he’d much rather that Francis doesn’t have anything.

Now though, Bucky has an appointment with his new midwife. An alpha woman by the name of Juliet Burke. Steve and Wanda had found her, and according to them, she’s fantastic and very willing to be his new midwife.

But even after all the background checks on her, Bucky finds himself a little unsure about her. It’s not that he doesn’t think that she’s good at what she does, or that she’s not as willing as she sounds, it’s more so because he’s never met her, and is just automatically wary of her. He needs to meet her first to know for sure if he can trust her.

It was the exact same with his lawyer, Benjamin Linus. He’s still a little wary of him though, but he trusts the guy enough, and he knows that Steve wouldn’t just choose anyone.

“You boys ready?” Wanda asks, poking her head through the doorway. “You’re appointment with Dr. Burke is in about half an hour, Bucky, so we should be getting a move on.”

Glancing at the clock, Bucky finds that Wanda is right. His appointment is scheduled for eleven forty five, and it’s currently eleven fifteen right now. He doesn’t want to be late.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Bucky says, turning his attention to Francis in Sam’s arms. “You be good for Uncle Sam okay, buddy?”

Francis nods. “I will, mommy!”

“Come on, Buck.” Steve says, holding his hand out for him. “Let’s go.”

Bucky looks at him, before following him and Wanda out of the room and down into the facility's garage, where they find Wanda’s car waiting. Bucky’s not sure what model car it is, but it is a very nice shade of purple, and the inside is even better.

It doesn’t take very long for them to drive down to the doctor’s office, and they don’t have to wait very long to see Bucky’s midwife. Though Bucky does find himself growing even more nervous by the second as they sit waiting to be seen before she shows up.

“James Barnes?” A blonde woman asks, making her way into the waiting room from somewhere down a long corridor.

She looks up from her clipboard, looking around before her eyes land on Bucky, Steve, and Wanda as they stand up and walk towards her.

“Uh, Bucky is fine.” Bucky says, stopping in front of the woman, Steve and Wanda standing right by his side.

The woman nods, smiling at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Bucky.” She says, holding a hand out for him to shake. “I’m Juliet Burke.” She says, as Bucky shakes her hand. “If you’ll follow me.”

They follow her down the hall towards the exam room for the ultrasound, and Bucky just hopes that there’s nothing wrong with the baby. He’s sure that little Reese is fine and healthy, but that doesn’t stop him from worrying.  _ Especially _ if there’s the chance that their kids might have something due to the serums, but they can’t really find any of that out until later on.

“If you can get seated here.” Dr. Burke starts, referring to the bed in the middle of the room next to a large machine that Bucky vaguely recognizes as the ultrasound machine. “We can get started.”

Nodding, Bucky takes a seat on the bed and looks around the room cautiously. He can’t say that he’s very comfortable around this type of tech, but he does his best not to panic. That’s the last thing he needs.

Steve walks over to Bucky’s side, sensing his nerves, and grabs his hand in his, squeezing it gently in assurance that everything’s going to be okay.

Bucky knows that everything’s going to be okay, but he appreciates the assurance from Steve nonetheless.

“If you could lift up your shirt so we can get a look.” Dr. Burke says, and Bucky lifts his shirt just as she asks.

He watches as she gets out a tube of some sort of gel, the name he’s not sure of, but he’s seen it enough to know what it does.

“This might be a bit cold.” Dr. Burke warns as she squirts some of the gel on his stomach.

Though, Bucky doesn’t even flinch when the cool gel touches his stomach. Ever since Hydra he’s ran cold, so it doesn’t surprise him that the gel doesn’t seem to cause him any discomfort.

He sits back as Dr. Burke moves some sort of wand thing (Bucky doesn’t know the correct name) around the gel on his stomach, and plays around with something on the ultrasound machine.

“And here’s the little guy.” Dr. Burke says, moving the screen of the ultrasound machine around a little so Bucky can see it. “Perfectly healthy, and everything appears to be going as it should.” She plays around with something else, until the sound of a heartbeat can be heard.

Bucky smiles as he sees his little boy on the screen, and hears his little heartbeat. He doesn’t bother to stop the few tears from slipping down his face. He doesn’t find himself caring about his tears. All he cares about is that his little boy is growing strong and healthy.

“There’s no complications that you can tell?” Steve asks.

Dr. Burke shakes her head. “Not as far as I can tell.” She says. “But due to what you spoke to me about on the phone, I suggest running a few tests on him after he’s born. I’m unsure if mutant abilities can be detected in utero.”

Steve nods. “We have someone who can test for that.”

“Great.” Dr. Burke nods. “Now let me just print off a few photos for you.” She does something on the machine before she’s getting up and going into the small room.

“You alright, Buck?” Steve asks, just as Bucky sits up on the bed, pulling his shirt back down after wiping the gel off his stomach with a tissue.

Bucky looks over at him, smiling. “I’m fine, Steve.”

Steve smiles, leaning over to give him a quick kiss, which causes Bucky to blush a little.

Dr. Burke comes back in soon after, handing over a couple ultrasound photos to Bucky, who takes the from her gratefully. He has a feeling that over the next few months until Reese is born that he’ll be having a hard time not looking at these photos.

They stay and talk with Dr. Burke for a bit longer, until they’re finally leaving and making their way back home.

**********

Once they get back to their floor at the Avengers facility, they’re met with Francis running towards the with Sam following behind him. And Bucky is quick - well, as quick as he can in his current condition - to get on his knees and hug his son.

He chooses to ignore the fact that it’s going to be a bit difficult for him to get back up by himself for the time being. Steve will no doubt help him up anyway, or Sam or Wanda will help.

“Were you good for uncle Sam?” He asks, brushing Francis’s hair out of his face.

He’s going to have to give him a haircut soon. Francis’s hair is much like his own, it grows way too fast.

“Yes, mommy.” Francis says. “How is little baby?”

Bucky smiles, resting a hand on his stomach as he feels Reese start kicking. “The baby’s good, buddy.”

He sure is glad that Francis is just as excited as he and Steve are for Reese to be born. He’s not sure how they would’ve been able to cope if he wasn’t happy about getting a little brother.

“Hey, you want to see a photo of your baby brother?” Bucky asks, digging around in his pocket for one of the ultrasound photos Dr. Burke gave him.

Francis nods excitedly, taking the photo from Bucky once he’s found it and looks over it. Though as he stares at the photo, his face turns to that of confusion.

“I don’t see baby, mommy.” He says, handing the photo back.

“Come here, I’ll show you.” Bucky says, shifting around on the floor so he’s sitting more comfortably, and indicates for Francis to sit in his lap.

“You see this?” He asks, as Francis sits down on his lap. “There’s his head, his hands and his little feet.” He says, holding the photo up for Francis to see as he points out each body part of the baby.

“Oh! I see now, mommy!” Francis exclaims, as he takes the photo once more.

Bucky smiles, kissing Francis’s cheek as he hugs him close. He never wants to let him go. Unfortunately, Francis has other ideas as Wanda makes her way over to them.

And as Wanda sits down next to them, Francis turns his full attention to her. Bucky is sure glad that Francis loves Wanda, though he has a bit of a fascination with Wanda’s powers. But Bucky won’t lie, he does too.

“Auntie Wanda, can we go play?” Francis asks, dropping the ultrasound picture to the floor as he gets off Bucky’s lap.

Not wanting the ultrasound photo to get damaged, Bucky picks the photo up and slips it back into his pocket for the time being. He’ll put it somewhere save once he gets up.

Wanda nods, smiling. “Alright.” She says. “What do you want to play?”

“Make my toys fly!” Francis says, jumping up, before he’s attempting to pull Wanda up.

Bucky smiles as he watches Wanda get up and be dragged down the hall towards Francis’s room. His son really enjoys it when Wanda uses her powers to make his toys float in the air. He finds so much joy out of it, and Bucky finds it adorable to watch.

Looking over towards the small kitchen, he finds Steve and Sam sitting at the table talking about whatever. Bucky doesn’t bother to pay any attention to what they’re saying. Instead, he shifts around so he’s laying on the floor. He’s not bothered to get up just yet, or at least not until the back pain starts to kick in - and he’ll move to the couch as soon as that starts to kick in.

“You want something to eat, Buck?” Steve calls over to him.

Bucky narrows his eyes a little at the question. “Is that supposed to be a trick question?” He asks, as he stares up at the ceiling. “Of course I want something to eat.”

“Dude, what’re you lying on the floor for?” Sam asks. “That’s gonna give you back pains.”

Sighing, Bucky sits up so he’s able to look over at Steve and Sam properly. “Doesn’t matter where I’m lying down.” He says, rubbing a hand around his stomach. “I’m gonna get back pain no matter what. Besides, the floor is surprisingly comfy right now.” He says. “Gotta hand it to Stark. He chose some soft as hell carpet for this place.”

The carpet is surprisingly  _ very _ comfortable and soft. He’s got to ask what brand it is so he and Steve can buy some once they’ve found their own home, cause hell yes they’re getting this exact carpet for their home.

Steve sighs, staring fondly over at Bucky. “You can’t get up off the floor by yourself so you’re just going to stay there for now aren’t you?”

“That’s partly true.” Bucky says, before laying back on the carpet once more. “But this carpet really is fucking comfortable.” He sighs, closing his eyes. “You need to ask Stark what brand it is.”

“Will do the next time I talk with him, Buck.” Steve assures him.

Bucky sighs in content. Though his contentedness is short lived, as something crosses his mind. He’s still finding himself bothered by the fact that he cannot remember what happened on the night he was supposed to kill Tony’s parents.

He’s been racking his brain trying to remember what happened that night, but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot remember what happened. He  _ needs _ to figure out what had happened, otherwise it’s just going to keep on bothering him.

Only problem is that he’s not sure how he’s supposed to go in remembering what happened. Mostly all his memories have gradually came back by themselves, but he’s not sure if he can just wait for what happened to come back to him on its own accord.

“Hey, Steve?” He asks, sitting back up again. Maybe Steve knows a possible way to reclaim this lost memory?

“Yeah, Buck?” Steve asks. “You need help off the floor?”

“No. Well... not yet anyway.” Bucky says. “It’s just… there’s this… lost memory I have that I want to get back.” He bites his lip nervously. He’s never told Steve that there was another date that he was supposed to kill Tony’s parents instead of the one where it did happen. “It’s from the night I was supposed to kill… Tony’s parents.”

Steve stops what he’s doing to look at Bucky. He doesn’t think that it would be a good idea to go digging. “Why would you want to remember what happened?”

“Wait, the day Hydra made you kill Stark’s parents wasn’t supposed to be then?” Sam asks.

Bucky shakes his head. “No. I was supposed to kill them the night Tony was born, and take Tony back with me to Hydra.” He says. “But… something must’ve happened that made me not do it, and it’s bothering me that I can’t remember what.”

Something significant must have happened if it’s bothering him so much that he can’t remember what it was. If it wasn’t, then he doubts that it would be bothering him  _ this _ much.

“You sure it’s a good idea to go digging?” Sam asks. “Whatever happened, it might not be something you want to remember.”

While Sam may have a point, Bucky feels as though he  _ needs _ to find out what happened that night.

“No…” He shakes his head. “I  _ need _ to figure out what happened.” He says. “It’s bothering me too much to just ignore it.”

Steve sighs, shaking his head. He doesn’t like the sound of Bucky digging back through his memories of the years Hydra had him, but this appears to be bothering him too much to just simply ignore.

“If it’s important to you that you find out what happened that night, then… maybe we can ask Wanda for a favor.” He says. “She should be able to help you remember what happened.”

If there’s anyone here who should be able to help with something like that, it’s Wanda.


End file.
